ASP.net MVC - Using Dropdown Lists

Question

The system is for managing movie rentals. A user can Manage Customers, Add Manage Movies, and manage Rentals.

Here are my models:

Customers Model

namespace u1265196_MovieRentals.Models
{
    public class Customers
    {


        [Display(Name = "Customer ID")]
        [Key]
        public int CustomerID { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "First Name")]
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Last Name")]
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Address Line 1")]
        public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Address Line 2")]
        public string AddressLine2 { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "City")]
        public string City { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Postcode")]
        public string Postcode { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Phone No")]
        public string Phone { get; set; }

        public virtual ICollection<Rentals> Rentals { get; set; }

    }

}

Movies Model:

namespace u1265196_MovieRentals.Models
{
    public class Movies
    {
        public int MovieID { get; set; }
        [Required]
        public string Title { get; set; }
        [Required]
        public string Director { get; set; }
        [Required]
        public string Genre { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [Display(Name = "Length of film")]
        public string Length { get; set; }
        [Required]
        public int AgeRating { get; set; }

        public virtual ICollection<Rentals> Rentals { get; set; }
    }
}

Rentals Model:

namespace u1265196_MovieRentals.Models
{
    public class Rentals
    {
        [Key]
        public int RentalID { get; set; }

        public int CustomerID { get; set; }
        public int MovieID { get; set; }
        public System.DateTime DateRented { get; set; }
        public System.DateTime ReturnDate { get; set; }

        [ForeignKey("CustomerID")]
        public virtual Customers Customers { get; set; }

        [ForeignKey("MovieID")]
        public virtual Movies Movies { get; set; }
    }
}

In my Rentals View i want to display a dropdown list containing all Customers First + Last Names. i also want to display a dropdown list containing all Movie Titles.

When a user selects a customer and movie from the dropdown lists and clicks save, i want the relevant ID's of the selected customer and selected movie to be stored in the Rentals Table.

How do i go about doing this?

EDIT

Here is the code for AddRental within my RentalsController:

 // GET: Rentals/Create


        public ActionResult AddRental()
        {

            var vm = new RentMovieVm();
            vm.Customers = CustomerDataAccess.GetAllCustomers().Select(s => new SelectListItem { Value = s.Id.ToString(), Text = s.FirstName + " " + s.LastName }).ToList();
            vm.Movies = MoviesDataAccess.GetAllMovies().Select(x => new SelectListItem { Value = x.Id.ToString(), Text = x.Title }).ToList();
            return View(vm);
        }

        // POST: Rentals/Create

        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult AddRental(RentMovieVm model)
        {
            var movieID = model.MovieID;
            var customerID = model.CustomerID;


            try
            {
                if (ModelState.IsValid)
                {
                    RentalsDataAccess RentalsDA = new RentalsDataAccess();

                    if (RentalsDA.AddRental(model))
                    {
                        ViewBag.Message = "Rental added successfully";
                    }
                }
                return View();
            }
            catch

            {
                return View();

            }
        }

Here is the code AddRental within my RentalsDataAccess Class:

 public bool AddRental(RentMovieVm obj)
        {

            connection();
            SqlCommand com = new SqlCommand("AddNewRental", con);
            com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
            com.Parameters.AddWithValue("@CustomerID", obj.CustomerID);
            com.Parameters.AddWithValue("@MovieID", obj.MovieID);



            con.Open();
            int i = com.ExecuteNonQuery();
            con.Close();
            if (i >= 1)
            {

                return true;

            }
            else
            {

                return false;
            }


        }

Edit2

CustomersDataAccess:

public List<Customers> GetAllCustomers()


        {
            connection();
            List<Customers> CustomerList = new List<Customers>();


            SqlCommand com = new SqlCommand("GetCustomers", con);
            com.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
            SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(com);
            DataTable dt = new DataTable();

            con.Open();
            da.Fill(dt);
            con.Close();
            foreach (DataRow dr in dt.Rows)
            {

                CustomerList.Add(

                    new Customers
                    {

                        CustomerID = Convert.ToInt32(dr["CustomerID"]),
                        FirstName = Convert.ToString(dr["FirstName"]),
                        LastName = Convert.ToString(dr["LastName"]),


                    }


                    );

            }

            return CustomerList;


        }

Your question may be too broad. Can you show us any attempts? Razor has some pretty straight-forward ways of using dropdown lists. If you're looking for a tutorial, this might not be the right place. — Guilherme Lofrano Corneto
– Guilherme Lofrano Corneto, Commented Apr 12, 2016 at 15:58

Shyju · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-12 15:59:02Z

1

Create a view model SPECIFIC to this view.

public class RentMovieVm
{
   public List<SelectListItem> Customers { set; get;}
   public List<SelectListItem> Movies { set; get;}

   public int CustomerId { set; get;}
   public int MovieId { set; get;}
}

Now in your GET action, create an object of this, populate the Customers and Movies properties with data from your tables.

public ActionResult Rent()
{  
  var vm = new RentMovieVm();
  vm.Customers= dbContext.Customers.Select(s=> new SelectListItem { 
                                             Value =s.CustomerId.ToString(),
                                             Text= s.FirstName+" "+ s.LastName }).ToList();
  vm.Movies= dbContext.Movies.Select(x=> new SelectListItem { 
                                               Value =x.MovieId.ToString(),
                                               Text= x.Title }).ToList();
  return View(vm);
}

Now your view will be strongly typed to this view model

@model RentMovieVm
@using(Html.Beginform())
{
  <label> Select a customer </label>
  @Html.DropDownListFor(s=>s.CustomerId, Model.Customers)
  <label> Select a movie </label>
  @Html.DropDownListFor(s=>s.MovieId, Model.Movies)

  <input type="submit" />
}

Now in your HttpPost action method, you can use the same RentMovieVm class as the parameter so model binder will be able to map the posted form data to properties of this class's object.

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Rent(RentMovieVm model)
{
  var movieId = model.MovieId;
  var customerId = model.CustomreId;
  // to do  : Save this to your Rental Table
  // to do : Return something ( redirect to success page)
}

answered Apr 12, 2016 at 15:59

Shyju

220k106 gold badges420 silver badges499 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

12 Comments

JamesM94 Over a year ago

Hi, thanks for your comment. Does this only work when using the Entity Framework? I'm not using the entity framework. so far I have used stored procedures to create, edit, and delete Movies and Customers.

Shyju Over a year ago

No. The basic concept of rendering dropdown is same. If you are not using EF, Update the Rent() GET action method to get data from your other data access method instead of using dbContext.Customers. Ex: yourDataAccessClass.GetCustomers().Select(// existing code) where GetCustomers return a collection of Customer

JamesM94 Over a year ago

Thanks for that. I am still getting an error though. i have added my RentalsDataAccessClass above and also my RentalsController. Could you please take a look and tell me where i might be going wrong? Thanks

JamesM94 Over a year ago

"An Object Reference is required for the non-static field, method, or property 'CustomerDataAccess.GetAllCustomers()" The same for MoviesDataAccess.GetAllMovies()

Shyju Over a year ago

is CustomerDataAccess a non nullable object ? Put visual studio breakpoint and inspect your variable.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

ASP.net MVC - Using Dropdown Lists

1 Answer 1

12 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

12 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related